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A Shift In Focus In Retirement Reports Made By OPM
OPM has always been considered prone to making and inculcating changes and this month, as a federal employee you can expect your monthly retirement report to look a little changed from what it appeared to be last month.
Mr. Zawodny who is the retirement services’ spokesperson and associate director said that the organization has somewhat altered the focus of its monthly reports and now will focus more on highlighting the information that the feds and the potential retiring officers would need to know in order to make some prudent decisions about their retirement plans.This information will bring about a stark difference and will provide them with the options that they might have in case they are considering opening their retirement funds or changing the type of programs that they fall under.
Details like “When will my first retirement fund check reach me?” or “How much money would I end up saving” will also be made part of the updated reports that are going to be dispatched at the end of the following month. This would mean that many of the details like the number of claims and other rudimentary figures will be left out and only the most important stuff will be presented to the employees.
The employees would also be able to get to know how much time it’s going to take for their applications to get registered, processed and in the longer run approved too. The monthly rates of contributions that will be required to make will also be put to paper.
This is one step that was thought of quite some while ago and the OPM’s body was trying to make the change as soon as possible but it will be somewhat striking to the employees that have been seeing the same monthly retirement reports for quite some time now.
Expect Your Newly Announced Retirement Plan To Not Deliver
myRA has been the recipient of many critique and analysis in the past few months after its announcement and there has been a wave of uncertainty generated in the minds of the federal employees so as to whether or not it’s the solution that they were after. The gap in our country’s retirement savings is magnanimous and the new program was destined to make it a lot less but experts think otherwise.
Many of the feds and critics lauded the government’s step to make myRA open to applications and to allow the millions of Americans (without retirement plans) to finally up the ante but now it looks as if myRA isn’t going to do the trick. Here’s why:
The account that gets initiated when you sign up for the program gives away almost the same rate of interest as the G fund of the government that the federal employees should know about. This is not just a statement put forward by anybody; this is what the US treasury has to say. The average of the fund over a ten year tenure was around 3.3 percent. myRA is different in its operations though because contributions go straight to the government’s security funds which have really low rates of return.
Many experts believe that the traditional plans that always existed can help in making hefty contributions but myRA can increase the number significantly. The program was introduced to allow the officers that have no retirement procedures applicable to them and the government can only hope that it is going to allow those imprudent souls to finally take actions. Having said that, we have to conclude that things aren’t as clear as you would ideally want them to be. Let’s hope that things turn out well and people of America find better ways of preparing for their post-retirement life.
Fraud Protection For Retired Federal Officials
Fraud protection is something of paramount importance in the skeptic and cynical world of today and where social security and other veteran benefit policies are protected against fraud, federal retirement benefits is not.
This is something that was always in the attention of the law forming bodies and now courtesy a bill put forward by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp and James Lankford is possibly going to rectify this issue once and for all.
Mr. James Lankford is the head of the governmental affairs committee on regulatory affairs and federal management and the homeland security department of Senate. He has in strong words emphasized on the fact that once this bill of his gets passed, strict penalties will be carried out against any financial over lookers who are found guilty of committing fraud against a federal officer. He further said that the current rules are not clear nor firm and it was high time somebody changed that.
The payee fraud prevention act encompasses both the FERS and the CSRS retired officials. James said that he was made aware of the issue by several retiree advocate groups that were constantly trying to make things right. During this period, he was trying to reduce the retirement wait tenures. On average, a federally retired officer has to wait around eight months (if not more) before first being able to enjoy their benefits and this is definitely something in demand of attention.
The recent OPM data security breach has stolen the main spotlight inside the agency and in the eyes of media as well but Lankford believes that even though security vulnerabilities need to be removed and data centers be made a lot securer, he can’t let millions of employees suffer because of fraud.
Seeing such positive efforts made by senators only proves to us that there are in fact people striving to make this nation a lot more prosperous one. Here’s hoping that it continues.
Work-Life Programs Welcomed By Federal Employees
Federal Work-Life Programs
The life of federal employees is never free of changes. Depending on how you take it, there might be good news for you or bad news. 90 percent of the federal employees (According to study) reveal that they consider their work to be of a great importance. This survey/study was conducted by the OPM (office of personnel management) and 75 percent of the responses that were made this year were positive than those made in the previous year’s study.
It’s however not vividly clear how we can analyze this level of engagement. The survey also revealed that there are around 65 percent of employees that consider themselves “engaged” and committed according to the benchmarks set by OPM. These benchmarks normally include the dedication effort and resilience of the employees for their job. The figure has not really seen changes in the past few years.
Apart from the usual stuff, the study based survey also played a huge role in making OPM understand whether the employees want to achieve a better work-life balance or whether they are satisfied with what they currently have to deal with. The survey revealed that the employees are welcoming the change.
One of the most popular program that is about to get introduced is that the schedule of the employees be made a lot more flexible than it currently is. This will allow them to manage doing non-work chores during their work time as well. There is a strong majority of people who don’t like having flexible time schedules but still it wasn’t surprising to see that around 90 percent of the employee participants gave an “Aye!” to the program.
There were other programs like the included child care program and the elder care program that received lower ratings of 72 percent and 66 percent respectively.
Even though there are divided opinions or whether these programs should be included in the work life of the employees or not, to us, these are positive steps and need to be implemented sooner rather than later.
Making Wise FEGLI Assignment Decision In Today’s Market
Making wise FEGLI assignment decision in today’s market
You may allocate your Federal Employees Group Life Insurance or FEGLI to one or more persons, firms or trusts. Task implies that you consent to surrender responsibility for Basic, Standard Optional and Additional Optional life coverage scope until the end of time. The trustee turns into the recipient yet you must keep on paying any relevant premiums.
There are three primary things you need to consider before going ahead with the FEGLI protection. To comply with a Court Order–You may make a task of your gathering life coverage keeping in mind the end goal to consent to a court request for separation. Doling out extra security scope to a previous life partner gives a way to guarantee the court that life coverage advantages will be payable to a previous spouse or his or her assigned recipient. Otherwise under the extra security law, a FEGLI protected individual may change his or her assignment of recipient whenever.
For Inheritance Tax Purposes– usually if a task is made no less than three years before a singular’s demise, the FEGLI protection is viewed as a “gift” to the chosen one, instead of a piece of the domain of the safeguarded. Current government domain charge law permits a boundless conjugal finding for that divide of the gross home went to a surviving partner. Along these lines, there is no obvious prompt duty point of preference to doling out responsibility for life coverage arrangement to a companion. Notwithstanding, since state charge laws shift and duty ¬savings under government or state law can be extensive if FEGLI protection continues are not subject to domain charges, it is vital to counsel an able home expense consultant. A determination in respect to whether the extra security continues are incorporated into your gross bequest should at last be made by the IRS. In endeavoring to decide the expense impact of a task, you ought to refer to tax duty laws, case law and IRS regulations. Likewise, you ought to think about getting as a decision from the IRS.
To Obtain Accelerated Death Benefits–You can dole out your extra security to a viatical settlement firm on the off chance that you are in critical condition so as to get a bit of the estimation of your disaster protection before your passing. Consider first whether you could achieve the same objective by choosing a Living Benefit, be that as it may.
A couple focuses to note are – By doling out your extra security, you surrender the privilege to assign recipients and to lessen the measure of protection scope (regardless of the fact that the expense is more than you can manage). Family Optional disaster protection can’t be appointed, in light of the fact that, by law, no one but you can be the recipient. On the off chance that you relegate your life coverage to more than one individual, you must indicate the rate offers for every individual. You are not allowed to name unexpected appointees in the occasion the essential chosen one predeceases you. In the event that the trustee does not assign a recipient, the chosen one is the recipient and will be paid after your passing. This is basically how FEGLI works.
The Student Loan Forgiveness Program Might End Up Being a Bad Decision
The federal government has always been liable for making some striking changes to the student loan propaganda and recently they have prepared to up the ante a bit too much (probably) by forgiving up to billions of dollars that were taken in as student loans. These will include all the doctors and the white collar citizens too that have been paying a lot for their educations. This law is destined to help the employees that come from a middle class demographic and can’t afford to pay the hefty fee that they end up having to.
Student Loan Forgiveness Program
This has been caused by a program that was launched countrywide in 2007 and it forgives all the student debt that the student has gone ahead and made payments for over a decade and has not the highest of salaries. This of course is only applicable to those that are working for companies that come under the umbrella of the government or are non-profit organizations. This is destined to give encouragements to the young enthusiastic citizens of the country to go ahead and take part in jobs that are considered difficult to fill otherwise; for example public defenders, teachers and doctors that don’t get paid enough. This program however has ended up engulfing a lot many more people than expected; even the ones that have well paid jobs. Some of the students that had student loans to pay and had excellent jobs currently have gone ahead and made themselves free of the debts.
The greatest benefiters from this new program will be the medical students that owe a large amount of money (all the time) to the government. It’s expected that up to 85 percent of the students will get their huge debts forgiven under this scheme.
Critics have gone ahead and said that this program isn’t serving its purpose and where it shouldn’t have benefited the ones that are enjoying excellent pays, it should have benefited those that are currently suffering. Here’s hoping that whatever happens makes the life of the majority better.
The Harsh Realities of the Employee Wellness Plans
changes made in the recently released reports
There have been some changes made in the recently released reports about the employee wellness programs and plans by the Government and there are some striking alterations that weren’t expected. Recently the employees of the federal government have received some orders in their mailboxes telling them to provide the government with their cholesterol levels, weight, age and other details or end up paying up to 2500 dollars in penalties on their health insurance. This value can go up to 4100 dollars if you are a married person.
These packages were sent to the Honeywell employees which is a group of companies that manufactures products up in New Jersey. This was as part of the health plan enrollment program that happens annually. These penalties have been made a little less dangerous sounding for the coming year and now have an upper limit of 1500 dollars.
The problems that the employees are raising in this regard are that some of them have their own privately hired health care and other programs and they would want the selection of such programs to be made voluntary. There are some employees that have a completely polar verdict too. They believe that these keep the employees up to date about their health and also motivated to keep working to avoid penalties.
While these programs can be beneficial for some of the employees, it’s still not going to harm anyone if they were made voluntary with a choice provided to the employee to undertake or to just say “I pass”. The government is currently in dispute over this matter too but it’s expected that soon enough there is going to be a verdict but at-least for the coming year, we would have to bear with this rule. Here’s hoping that a win-win situation for both parties can somehow be found in this regard.
More Federal Government, Demand the Republicans
The republicans have always been the ones that make the most demands when it comes to the federal government and in the recent presidential primary held by all the Republican candidates, most of them have stressed that the federal government should take more vigilant steps in ensuring that they actually assess the agencies they would end up cutting. There has been one voice heard from Ohio this past week in support of this request.
Recently Mr. John Kasich, the governor from Ohio announced that he has decided to launch a new agency under which he would be making the “Judeo-Christian western norms and values” promotions in foreign countries. This particular committee is going to raise voices in the Middle East as well as in China and Russia among other countries.
The Republicans Demand More Federal Government
The governor’s main stand point was this: He believes that the foreign broadcasting has lost the vigor that it used to have in the previous generations and now the focus is laid more on matters that shouldn’t be considered important. He said that his efforts will help ensuring the consolidation of a new committee based agency that is going to have a very clear mandate. The rudimentary values of democracy, freedom of religion and human rights etc. are going to be the main talking points.
Kasich believes that he has got the required capabilities and experience to pull this off and there has been some serious support and endorsements of his steps that are being made all over the country in the recent past. While this aims at making the foreign broadcasting something to look forward to in the upcoming years, it could also give some critics food for thought too. Here’s hoping that whatever transpires ends up being fruitful for not only Republicans, but for all of United States of America.
The Last of the Government Research Chimpanzees are Retiring
The Government is retiring the last of the research Chimpanzees
There have been some chimpanzees used by the government for scientific research purposes but now the National institutes of health has decided to send the final few research animals into federal retirement. These research chimpanzees include some that were present in the Texas facilities. They will be moved to the nearest federal sanctuary as soon as some space is cleared out for them.
This is not something to be surprised of for most of the people as the government had already made such remarks and indicated that one of the closest ancestors to the homo sapiens will cease to be used as research specimens. During 2014, the national institutes of health had announced that soon all the chimps that were serving as lab rats will be retired and this looks like something to do with that announcement.
In the past week, the labs had cleared the chimps and it was said that they are no longer going to be subject to experiments in the lab anymore. The main director of NIH stressed during his last speech that the research on chimps in the world of today is no longer something pragmatic and it’s finally time for us to move on.
The first thing on the mind of the NIH board apparently will be to send the 20 chimpanzees that they currently own to the Chimp haven which is a government owned and funded chimp sanctuary up in Los Angeles. After that more animals are destined to follow and be placed in other sanctuaries that are spread out across the country.
Here’s hoping that steps like these mean an end to the exploitation of these animals and they can finally spend some years without having to abide by the rules formed by the human scientific civilization. Steps like these can only be lauded.
Retirement Benefits to get Altered in 2016
2016 Retirement Benefits Changes
There are many changes that are expected to be brought about in the next fiscal year of the country. The officers that contribute to their retirement benefits will get more choices now for participation as myRA has been introduced. Apart from this, there will be lesser options to claim the social security funds for all the married federal employees (couples). Apart from this, the premium fund of the Medicare has also seen some increase. Let’s shed some light on how the retirement saving plans are set to get altered in 2016:
- You can’t claim your social security after you have done it once. There have been cases where elderly people (66 or above) have been observed to claim their social security benefits a second time. This happened as the first time, they could just go ahead and collect the social payment of their partner and then later on they could receive the benefit that was owed to them by the federal government. In heed of this, no elderly married couples are going to be allowed to claim social security twice in their life tenure.
- There has been much noise made about myRA. It’s indeed a new and innovative way of adding funds to your retirement bucket. It got launched in the beginning of the year and there is no hidden fee or any charges that are deduced from the opener’s account. You can only invest in it in one way: via the treasury savings bond with an interest rate that varies over time.
There are some other alterations made in this regard too so if you are a federal employee currently thinking about your post-retirement life then you need to take serious interest in how you are going to be managing your current salary after making some adjustments and contributions to your retirement fund.
Get Your Hands On Retirement Benefits Sooner
Get Your Hands on Retirement Benefits
With the passing of every year, you see your old age draw closer to you and if you haven’t got yourself covered with a fancy retirement plan, the years are going to be very hard for you to foresee. The federal officers can know play a part in lessening the time it takes to get their retirement benefits applications processed. The person that is overlooking the whole process has long been stressing on the fact that the soon to be retirees should start looking at their whole work experience and history before they actually consider retirement.
The last thing you want at the time of retirement is to realize that your documents are not complete and that your records are not substantially astute. Ken Zawodny, the director of the retirement services at the commission further said that if he were to retire within a year, he would be lagging behind the curve. He said that a prospective retiree should be paying heed to their records for more than 3 years ago even and trying to make sure that none of their service years are found missing. This includes letting the HR of your company has a hold of all the information that they would need.
Apart from the usual retirement benefits, the employees should do well by giving some thought to insurance coverage and other such matters. Thrift savings plan funding and benefit issues are to be given special attention before you decide on commencing your service.
A study that was released a few weeks ago shows that 75 percent of the time, the employees that have recently retired will get their applications processed within a period of 60 days after sending it to OPM but strikingly, agencies haven’t been able to completely be able to approve even 90 % of all the applicant’s records.
Upon retirement of federal officers, the agencies are responsible for forwarding the applications and records to OPM where all the benefits are calculated. So, it’s highly recommended that you start considering your post-retirement life by looking at your records straight away.
BEST CITIES TO LIVE IN – by Dianna Tafazoli
Alexandria is one of the best cities!
Federal employees have lots of decisions to make when it comes to retirement. They must make sure their benefits align with their needs in retirement. They look for safety and security not only relevant to whether they will have enough money in retirement but where they will live for safety and peace of mind. A study conducted by 24/7 Wall Street, LLC, a Delaware Corporation that runs financial news and opinions surveyed 550 U.S. cities with populations of 65,000 or more as determined by the U.S. Census Bureau, to determine America’s Best Cities to Live In.
The survey looked at crime rates, employment growth, access to restaurants and attractions, educational attainment and housing affordability. Federal retirees are often the victims of scams and other crimes due to the perception that Federal workers make good salaries and therefore have good retirement checks. Federal employees make up the largest population of retirees in the country and by the same token represent the most vulnerable group for scams and crimes.
The survey chose Alexandria, Virginia as the best place to live based on the metrics selected by 24/7 Wall Street. Some years back in another survey not conducted by 24/7 Wall Street, Alexandria was chosen as the BEST READ city. The city of Alexandria is doing something right it seems. By the way, another city within the Washington Metropolitan Area made up of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, was among the Best Places to live – Gaithersburg. Congratulations to the States of Virginia and Maryland for making the list.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Dianna Tafazoli
FEDERAL EMPLOYEES – ARE YOU READY FOR OPEN SEASON
There are two Open Seasons going on almost simultaneously – Medicare and Federal Employees Health Benefits. Don’t get refused – Medicare Open Season runs from October 15 – December 7, 2015. Federal Health Benefits Open Season run from November 9 – December 14, 2015. Many Federal employees will participate in both Open Seasons. They will need to know what their plans offer and what they are looking for to satisfy their health care needs.
While a Federal employee is still working the FEHB plan will generally be their primary coverage until they retire. If there is spousal coverage on a job, then the spousal plan will generally be the primary until both spouses are retired. In essence, Medicare generally becomes the primary after retirement. If you miss applying for Medicare at the first opportunity for eligibility and you are not still employed you might suffer a 10 percent penalty when you do apply.
There are many types of Medicare plans available. However, many Federal employees will automatically be enrolled in Medicare if they were Federal employees in 1983. All other applicants will generally have to apply for Medicare. Medicare Part A is available at no cost if you or your spouse have worked under a Medicare covered employment. If you don’t qualify for what is termed ‘Free Medicare – Part A’ you can still contact Medicare to see what the cost might be to you and how to apply.
Medicare Part B carries a premium and the premium varies based on income with an adjustment being made to the premium annually. It is recommended to Federal employees when enrolling in Medicare to keep their Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) plans because the coverage, including prescription drug coverage, is basically equal to or better than any other coverage available. If you suspend your FEHB to enroll in a Medicare Advantage Plan (Part C), you can always go back and pick up your FEHB. Whether you are participating in Medicare Open Season or Open Season for Federal health plans, be sure to review your plans and examine what your plan covers and what it does not. Chances are if you are covered under a FEHB plan you are satisfied with, there might be little reason for you to make any changes. Know what coverage your plan offers and know what your health priorities are and make a decision that best fits the needs of you and your family.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Dianna Tafazoli
Is Tweeting About A Political Applicant A Potential Firing Case?
Have you ever thought about tweeting against or in favor of a political candidate?
Well, if you haven’t actually done it and are thinking about it, then make sure you know whether or not, you can get fired for this act of yours.
The special counsel’s office has recently announced a list of FAQ about the Hatch Act for all the federal employees with the next year almost here. The main talking point of the document among other matters was the use of social networks by the federal officers. The statement included the crimes that could be involved when an officer is found in violation of the Hatch act while posting on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network for that matter.
A sample question that was asked in the document was that whether a federal officer should talk about politics and the related activities on social media networks or not. The answer is positive but it has some prohibitions hidden within it.
According to the hatch act, the employees are prohibited from taking part in political activity of any sort when they are within the premises of their offices. Also, you can’t refer to a specific person by their designations or positions. Also, adding to the political campaigns or making any other contributions in the political domain is also strictly prohibited. This means you can’t yourself engage in spreading the work or provide any links to people to do it. That being said, an officer can go ahead and accept any invitation that might be made to a fundraising event by a politician.
The document also included other aspects of internet usage. The officers are also prevented from making use of the government provided email address to make any sort of political dealing or contribution. For instance, you can receive a political email while you are at your workplace and forward it to your other id but dispatching an email from your own government id is strictly prohibited.
It’s recommended for all the employees to at-least go through the document once themselves.
Should Public Housing Smoking Be Banned?
Public Housing Smoking Ban
There are many ways we can look at one single matter. The federal smoking ban that prohibits the smoking of cigarettes in public housing has a very clear theme: Smoking is indeed something that’s injurious to health and when you ban the use of it in public, it can only be for the good. When it comes to housing, many landlords already prohibit the usage of cigarettes within the premises because not only is it bad for health but as we all know, it’s also a fire hazard. The federal government also agrees with the landlords on this matter and most of the members of senate find it highly plausible to approve the federal smoking ban.
Having said that, this ban is going to affect over a million public housing units across the country and it would also include its implementation in over 3 thousand housing agencies within a period of 1 and a half years. So all things considered, is this ban the right move to make? Let’s analyze:
How is banning public housing smoking good?
The first point worth raising is that it would definitely save the government a lot of money. A study done by CDC in 2014 revealed that if there was no smoking in public housing, it would mean an annual yield of over a hundred and fifty million.
Another reason why it should be considered a positive step is that over 500 thousand public housing schemes are laden with elderly people. Apart from this, the number of children living is such projects is remarkably high too. This makes them protected from the menace of smoke.
How is public housing smoking bad?
The plan is not funded and the owners would have to incur the costs for implementing this ban themselves.
Another reason worth mentioning is that there is no such law that will protect the landowners if they fail to make sure that the inhabitants of the housing schemes quit smoking. So is it worth the risk?
All being said, the government should micro-analyze before taking a step in any direction with respect to this ban.
TIS THE SEASON TO START MAKING WISE CHOICES
Calling all Federal workers – bells are ringing for Open Season.
Each year Federal workers have the opportunity to review their health care plan to determine if they are satisfied with the plan they have or if they need to make changes. There may be many reasons for making a change – marriage, the birth of a child, adoption, the death of a qualifying family member or because health care needs may change calling for a different health plan. Whatever the reason workers should be ready to carefully evaluate what plan will best answer their needs and those of their family members.
In the case where both spouses work for the Federal Government, it might be worth the effort to assess the cost of plans carried individually as opposed to Self and Family when there are only two people involved. Looking at Self Only and Self Plus One is worth a careful analysis. The same kind of evaluation is needed when there is an enrollee and a child. In these instances, the higher cost of Self and Family can be replaced with the Self Plus One option.
Whatever the choice, Open Season begins November 9, 2015 and runs through December 14, 2015, giving Federal workers all the time needed to review their current plan and the associated costs against competing plans that may or may not be suited for their health care needs.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
Dianna Tafazoli
Set Up Your Own Retirement Plan
How to Set Up Your Retirement Plan
We strive all our lives to make money that we spend living our lives in the best way we can. Preparing for the future is something that most of us fail to do because we lack prudence and that is the reason why almost 60 percent of American employees that are still in service have got no retirement funds registered against their names. Thankfully for all of us though, the government has something in store for us.
The myRA plan is a free savings benefit plan that is completely devoid of any type of risks and is destined to help the people that have no other retirement plans like the IRAs. This particular plan can be opened by all of the government employees without having to spend a single dollar, it’s also portable from one job to another and there is no fee whatsoever associated to it either.
The account holders that have an accumulative income of less than 130 thousand annually can pile up to 6000 annually for 2015 with just 1 percent contributions. This account is going to prove as a step in the right direction and could be used as a stepping stone. There are some things about it worth noting down though: You can have a maximum of 15 thousand deposited and it will last for 30 years before you would have to transfer your funds to another bank account.
Many critics and magazines have regarded this as an excellent step taken by the government because post-retirement poverty has always been an issue in our country and it was high time that it got taken care of. A point worth raising here is that the employees that already have excellent retirement plans can also benefit from this retirement plan if they desire although the options available to them are a lot better.
How a Social Security and a Supplement Differ
There is a certain set of benefits that only the federal employees get; not all of them but the ones that come under the protective umbrella of the Federal Employees Retirement system. People with a history in government and a long career in such occupations that are covered by FERS get a benefit known as FERS supplement once they retire. In order to be considered eligible and receive the supplement, you need to be younger than 62 when you retire. You would thus be able to get a ready and a handsome sum of money through the basic Federal employment retirement system benefit.
There’s another thing known as a social security, which is the assistance provided by the government to people with lesser income or other issues. At 62, normally the payment that you received as a social security is a lot more than what you would receive as a FERS supplement for the same services.
There are many reasons for this to happen but we will not discuss all of them. A point that needs attention is that a supplement does not include the cost of living amount that gets adjusted normally to a social security. The FERS cost of living adjustment is only applicable to the retired officer’s basic annual benefit. This adjustment is made to some of the retired officers before they actually reach the age of 62.
Another reason for this to happen is that not all of the retired officials get their hands on their social security benefits. Because of the fact that you can qualify for a different and probably larger amount of benefit because of your partner’s work for the government, the supplement ends up being a fairly different amount than the social security.
There are many other factors that can be raised to differentiate the two entities but these are enough for the readers to be able to draw a line between the two.
